OnTap Magazine

44 | Summer 2025 | ontapmag.co.za usually only necessary if or when there is a tie in [the] results. The scores from the label judging score sheet are the deciding factor in determining the winner.” Saturday’s activities all drive towards the crowning event: the annual prizegiving. Far from aggressive competition, there is a collaborative spirit to this. As the winners and runners-up of each category get announced, the whole room erupts with elation, because these university students from all over South Africa have had plenty of time to get to know one another, and although some do better than others, all seem to be glad to be part of the community. The creativity that this event stimulates is evident in the interesting beers created for the event. Chef Liya, from the 1000 Hills Chef School in KwaZulu-Natal, talks about their Guava Berliner Weiss. “We chose to use guava as it captures childhood memories, and paired it with the Berliner Weiss style to create an intensely refreshing beer.” A fruit she had been exposed to, while growing up in KwaZulu-Natal, was a natural choice for this beer. “As kids, we used to play and grab guavas from trees around our neighbourhood. The beer tastes like those fun times, the sourness is like the thrill of getting into a bit of mischief and the guava flavour takes us back to those sunny, carefree days.” Kevin Netshivhongweni, the new captain of the historically very successful University of Cape Town (UCT) team, talks about this year’s difficulties. “The biggest challenge wasn’t the brewing itself; it was building a team from scratch. I was the only remaining member from the previous year’s squad, and stepping into the role of main brewer for the first time added some pressure.” Part of the role of the captain of a team is to find individuals from various courses who have an interest in brewing science. The University of the Free State (UFS) managed to clinch the IPA category this time. Azil Coertzen, the UFS captain, gives credit to her teammate Martin for developing this year’s recipe: “He built on [from] a recipe the team had developed last year. He introduced a diverse range of hops and perfected the dry hopping process to achieve a balance between the aroma and flavour of the beer.” Azil shares that they were keen to improve on 2024’s performance. “We were admittedly very nervous going into this year’s competition. Last year was a bit of a disappointment as we did not manage to take home any awards. Therefore, we put extra effort and creativity into brewing better beers this year and our goal was to win just one prize.” And that is, to some degree, the importance of this competition; it creates brewers who understand the fundamentals of brewing, and over time, the standard has risen through this feedback-driven knowledge accumulation. As such, Intervarsitybrew™ isn’t just about beer or brewing, but about developing skills. Some of these skills are transferable to other industries, cultivating a greater understanding of the context of some of the work these students might end up doing after graduation. This would include working in agricultural sciences, engineering or even in marketing departments. But, alongside all of this, it is also a celebration of the achievement by university staff mentors, who are often underfunded and running on passion to help their teams with the resources to develop the skills that might one day be applied in the various areas of beer production. Realising the importance of this role, there is also recognition given to the mentor of the year. Entrants are nominated by their students and independently judged by industry members. It is always amazing to see those that do such selfless and often silent work get some acknowledgement. With their support, the students grow and develop. Next year is sure to be even higher in standard, and I, for one, believe the future is bright for many of these students, thanks to competitions like this. Competition Director Olga de Smidt tries one of the competing beers